INCLUSION DAILY
EXPRESSInternational Disability Rights News Service

http://www.InclusionDaily.comYour
quick, once-a-day look at disability rights, self-determination and the
movement toward full community inclusion around the world.

Tuesday, May 18, 2004Year V, Edition 936

Today's front section features 8 news and information
items, each preceded by a number (#) symbol.Click on the"Below the
Fold" link at the bottom of this section for 22 more news items.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:"Its a lot easier to show the positive
view of a person with disabilities to a child than try to change the negative
attitude of an adult."--Rebecca Thacker, talking about visiting West
Virginia elementary schools in her wheelchair to teach children about
disabilities (Fifth story)

"I just enjoy it all."--Mary Bentley, who has been working at
a Toccoa, Georgia Wendy's restaurant for the last 25 years (Third story)

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND--People with disabilities that work in
sheltered workshops will receive the same pay and employment rights as other
workers under a measure introduced into New Zealand's Parliament on
Tuesday.

Disabilities Issues Minister Ruth Dyson announced in a statement that
the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Bill would repeal the Disabled
Persons Employment Promotion Act 1960 (DPEP) which allows sheltered workshop
providers to pay less than the minimum wage -- and avoid holiday pay -- to some
workers with disabilities.

"The DPEP Act has been a long-standing source of dissatisfaction," she
explained. "Its repeal is a significant contribution to the government's
commitment to an inclusive society."

"The Act does not comply with domestic and international human rights
legislation as it embodies outdated and inappropriate concepts about the
ability, potential and rights of people with disabilities."

Dyson said that a transition period would allow sheltered workshops to
adjust to the new wages, and added that some had already started that process.

Workshops will continue to receive government assistance in developing
their businesses to support employment, along with government funding.

"What will change is the standard of the employment environment in which
people with disabilities work," she said.

Sheltered workshop providers have claimed that paying "sub-minimum"
wages allows them to employ workers who would not be hired elsewhere.

Critics have compared sheltered workshops to "sweat-shops" that
segregate and isolate people and devalue them by paying less than what they are
worth.

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA--Terri Schiavo's parents are
going to court to challenge a visitation ban imposed by their son-in-law.

Bob and Mary Schindler told the Associated Press that they were turned
away from the nursing home where Terri now lives when they went to visit
Friday.

Michael Schiavo, who is also Terri's guardian, prohibited his in-laws
from seeing Terri on March 29 after unidentified puncture marks were found on
her arms. Mr. Schiavo said he suspected the Schindlers of trying to inject
Terri with something.

Last week, police said no crime had been committed, and that toxicology
tests found no foreign substances in Terri's system. Investigators said the
puncture marks were likely caused by the lift used to transfer Terri in and out
of her bed.

Michael Schiavo's attorney George Felos said Terri's family can visit --
as long as they pay for extra security to accompany them. Felos said the March
incident "raises questions and suspicions" to warrant the restrictive
policy.

Terri, 40, breathes on her own, but is given food and water through a
tube installed through the wall of her stomach. Her husband and several doctors
claim that she has been in a "persistent vegetative state" since she collapsed
and her brain was without oxygen for several minutes in February 1990. The
courts have consistently supported Mr. Schiavo's claims that Terri cannot
recover from her brain injury, that she does not feel pain, and that she would
not have wanted to live "by artificial means".

Terri's parents believe that she is alert and responsive and that she
could improve through therapies which Mr. Schiavo has denied her for at least
the past 10 years. They have claimed that Terri's husband wants her to die so
that he can marry a woman with whom he has fathered two children. The
Schindlers want him removed as Terri's guardian and have pushed for an
investigation into their allegations that he has abused, neglected and
financially exploited her. They also suspect that Michael may have caused
Terri's initial collapse.

The Schindlers and advocates have defended Terri's right to live, noting
that allowing her to die by starvation would reinforce the message that the
lives of people with certain disabilities are not worth living. Under pressure
from disability rights and right-to-life advocates, Governor Bush championed
"Terri's Law" rapidly through the Legislature, giving him permission to order
Terri's feeding tube reinserted six days after it had been removed on October
16, 2003.

The Pinellas Circuit Court last week upheld Mr. Schiavo's challenge to
the law, which claimed it violated Terri's right to privacy and the Florida
Constitution's separation of powers provisions. On Wednesday, the Florida 2nd
District Court of Appeal asked that Bush's appeal be moved quickly to the state
Supreme Court.

LINCOLN,
NEBRASKA--John Lotter, who was convicted for killing three people on New Year's
Eve 1993, should undergo tests to see if he has mental retardation and be
spared the death penalty, his attorney said in a legal petition filed last
week.

Lotter and co-defendant Marvin Nissen were convicted of murdering
Brandon Teena, a cross-dresser who had lived as a man but was born female and
named Teena Brandon. Prosecutors said the two killed Teena because she had
reported being raped by them a week earlier. They killed Lisa Lambert and
Philip DeVine because they had witnessed the murder, prosecutors asserted.

Nissen testified against Lotter in exchange for a reduced sentence. He
was sentenced to life in prison, while Lotter received three death
sentences.

The murders inspired the 1999 movie "Boys Don't Cry". Hilary Swank won a
Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Teena in the film.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, attorney Paula Hutchinson filed
requests on May 11 in Richardson County District Court and U.S. District Court
asking that Lotter be tested to determine his intelligence.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing inmates considered
to have mental retardation is "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of
the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A 1998 Nebraska law banned the
execution of the those considered to have mental retardation, defined as
"exhibiting significantly subaverage intellectual functioning . . . as well as
deficits in adaptive behavior" or functioning in day-to-day situations.

Lotter's IQ has been measured at 76. Most experts consider a score of 70
or below to indicate mental retardation.

She said a psychiatrist is preparing an affidavit testifying that Lotter
probably meets Nebraska's definition for mental retardation.

If Lotter's death sentence is changed to life in prison, he would be the
third Nebraska death-row inmate to successfully use the mental retardation
claim since the 1998 law.

In January 1999, Jerry Simpson's death sentence was commuted to life in
prison after a judge accepted reports placing his IQ at 67 or 68. Simpson had
been sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of another inmate.

Five months later, Clarence Victor was spared execution when a judge
accepted tests that showed he had an IQ of 65. Victor had been sentenced to
death for the 1987 killing of an Omaha woman. He had previously been convicted
of manslaughter in 1964 and second-degree murder in 1976.

---

# CONTRIBUTION / AWARENESS

"Couple Paving Way For Others With
Disabilities"May 18, 2004

HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA--The
following four paragraphs are excerpts from a story in Tuesday's
Herald-Dispatch:

When most people walk along Huntingtons sidewalks or visit a
restaurant or business, they dont have to worry about where theyre
going to step next.

Its a different story for Rebecca and Ray Thacker. Both use
wheelchairs, which sometimes makes journeying Huntingtons streets a daily
struggle. But rather than accept their disabilities as setbacks, the Thackers
are using them to promote disability awareness throughout the city.

"If youre disabled, people have a tendency to make you believe
that you have to take what you get in life," Rebecca said. "Ray and I know
thats not true."

For nearly five years, the married couple has rolled along
Huntingtons streets evaluating curb cuts and crosswalks and informing
businesses of changes they can make to accommodate people with disabilities.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON--Pierce County Superior Court Judge
Karen Strombom ruled last week that the state of Washington is responsible for
paying a record $19 million to three men who were abused while living in a
Bremerton adult family home. Strombom's decision means the state's insurance
companies may not have to pick up $13.8 million of the judgment as officials
had hoped.

A jury in March 2000 decided that the Department of Social and Health
Services (DSHS) had failed to protect Damon Beckman, Eric Busch and William
Coalter from being physically and sexually abused in the state-licensed home.
The jury then ordered the state to pay the men and their families $17.8 million
-- the largest personal injury verdict ever won against the state of
Washington.

The Attorney General's Office had planned to appeal the decision,
arguing that, among other things, the three men were not competent to stand
trial because of their developmental disabilities. But state attorneys missed
the 30-day deadline for filing the appeal because a notice had been misplaced
within the office.

Attorney General Christine Gregoire later lost her attempts to have the
Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court extend the deadline. In mid-October, the
state paid the men the full amount, plus $1 million interest, and assured
tax-payers that its insurance companies would pick up $13.8 million of the
judgment.

The insurance companies, which include Zurich Specialties and Lloyds of
London, refused to pay. They sued the state in November, claiming that they
were not responsible after the state missed the appeal deadline.

Judge Strombom apparently agreed with the insurance companies.

A spokesperson from the Attorney General's Office said the state has not
decided whether it will appeal Strombom's decision.